CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Tech Sgt. Kenneth Bernhardy and redemption worker Greg Grant sorted recyclables at the center.
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Recycling worth the weight?
HI-5 redemption centers can pay what the scale says instead of counting each container
Master Sgt. Jesse Viernes brought 94 cans, 274 plastic bottles and 33 glass bottles to the HI-5 redemption center on Hickam Air Force Base yesterday.
At 5 cents per container, that could have netted Viernes $20.05.
THE RATE OF RETURN
Current Hawaii payment formula for each pound of deposit beverage containers, by type:
Aluminum: 30 cans x 5 cents = $1.50
Plastic: 16.6 bottles x 5 cents = 83 cents
Glass: 2.4 bottles x 5 cents = 12 cents
Bi-metal: 8 cans x 5 cents = 40 cents
For redemption centers and other information about the HI-5 program, see www.HI5deposit.com
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But when redemption center workers weighed the items by type, they told Viernes he'd get $19.75.
Under current rules for Hawaii's almost 2-year-old "bottle bill," the redemption centers don't have to count any more than 50 beverage containers per customer. Instead they can weigh items by type -- glass, aluminum or plastic -- and pay a rate per pound.
Viernes doesn't sweat the 30 cents difference, he said, because "I've always recycled. I'm not doing it for the money."
But he does support the state's current re-assessment of whether its redemption by weight payments are as equitable as possible.
"It's only fair to people," Viernes said. "These guys are recycling, and they shouldn't be punished," he said, gesturing to other customers at the redemption center yesterday afternoon.
Some customers aren't as easy-going about the variation between payment by count and payment by weight, said Karl Motoyama, recycling coordinator for the state Department of Health, which administers Hawaii's HI-5 beverage container law.
"They feel they want the 5 cents back, since they paid 6 cents," Motoyama said. The one-cent handling charge is not refunded, but helps pay the cost of the program.
When the state surveyed people using HI-5 redemption centers earlier this year, about half said they were satisfied with them -- but half were not, Motoyama said.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Department of Health environmental health specialist Lauren Willson and solid waste management coordinator Karl Motoyama weighed aluminum cans yesterday at Hickam Air Force Base Recycling Center.
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The biggest gripe was that people who had counted their cache of bottles and cans were sometimes disappointed that the payment by weight wasn't as much.
Also a concern was the customer service skills of redemption center workers. In response, the state is taking three steps:
» Analyzing the actual weight of random samples of recyclable containers collected at various Hawaii redemption centers this month. Heading the work is Capital Pathways, a consulting firm is headed by Scott Dosick, the former deputy chief of recycling for California.
» Spending $11,000 to provide training for the private companies running redemption centers under the state's guidance. The training includes basic information about how the beverage container law works and tips on customer satisfaction, said Lauren Willson , a state environmental health specialist.
Classes began this month and will continue into next year, Willson said.
» Considering changing the law to require up to 200 containers to be hand counted, instead of weighed, at redemption centers if the customer requests it.
Hearings on the proposal will be held early next year, said Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo.